Fågel, fiende eller mitt i mellan? En studie över ordet nešers betydelse och användning i Gamla Testamentet

Sammanfattning: This thesis is a study of the Hebrew word nešer, which is the name of the bird most often mentioned in the Old Testament. What kind of bird it is, is not defined in any of the texts in which it occurs, but the modern interpretations call it either an eagle or a vulture. The purpose of this thesis is to see if it is possible to define what kind of bird it is, see how it has been used in the Old Testament texts and to see if there are similarities to the symbolism and usage of similar birds in the literature of nearby cultures. By comparing existing birds with the descriptions of characteristics and behaviors that can be found in the texts, I try to come to a conclusion about which bird nešer most likely refers to, the two most prevalent proposals put forward being the griffon vulture and the golden eagle. Then I look closer at the different texts that contain the word nešer to try and see how it’s being used, and it is in the context of similes and metaphors the nešer is most common. Other nearby cultures with related languages, such as Ugaritic and Akkadian, has words which are directly related to nešer¸ so called cognates, they have the same etymological background and similar import. But even in cultures that do not share the same language, one can see that there are similar concepts, eg the Greek word aetos is used in a similar way, and in the Egyptian myths one can see elements similar to those characterizing nešer. When studying the usage of the word nešer, one can see similarities with the neighboring cultures, but the great difficulty in defining what kind of bird nešer actually is, is that in those passages where it’s used do not give a complete description, the similes used give only small clues on the characteristics and behaviors.